Hair styling compositions, such as hair sprays, styling gels, spray-on gels, and mousses are used on hair to hold the hair in a particularly desired shape or arrangement. A hair arrangement having improved lift, volume and fullness is often a desirable attribute, particularly among consumers with fine, limp or less voluminous hair. Conventional volumizing products generally provide such lift, fullness, control and styling by using fixative resins and polymers. However, these products can be perceived as imparting to hair a stiff, tacky, sticky type of texture, leaving the hair feeling overly coated and rough to the touch.
Chemical processing such as perming, bleaching, highlighting, coloring, and straightening is also a means whereby fullness and volume can be imparted to hair. However, styles typically controlled using such methods are not easily changeable and are frequently time consuming and labor intensive. Moreover, the chemicals employed in such methods can be caustic and somewhat damaging to hair when used excessively.
Mineral salts have been known to be useful as a means of increasing the viscosity of formulations and emulsions when combined with surfactants as disclosed in Encyclopedia of Shampoo Ingredients (A. L. L. Hunting, Micelle Press, 1983). Encyclopedia of Conditioning Rinse Ingredients (A. L. L. Hunting, Micelle Press, 1987).
Compositions containing water soluble, non-polymeric mineral salts have also been described as styling aids. For example, German Patent, DE 2,608,649 to Schulz discloses fat (oil) free compositions which incorporate water soluble, non-polymeric mineral salts to provide a lighter, looser setting of the hair. Schulz, however, fails to address compatibility issues which arise upon incorporating conventional oil or oil-like substances such as preservatives, perfume oils, vitamins, botanical extracts, fatty alcohols and the like. Such lipophilic substances have limited solubility in water. And, as such, tend to aggregate or "clump" in aqueous environments, resulting in decreased styling efficacy.
Therefore, a need exists for improved hair styling compositions containing water soluble, non-polymeric mineral salts which also provide for the uniform distribution or dispersion of aesthetic and/or antimicrobial, lipophilic materials. The present inventors have discovered that the use of low levels of surfactants in mineral salt solutions provide for the even and uniform dispersion of added lipophilic materials resulting in improved hair styling benefits.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide compositions having improved styling benefits of fullness and volume without leaving the hair sticky, stiff or coarse.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide improved hair styling compositions comprising a water soluble, non-polymeric mineral salt, lipophilic materials and low levels of surfactant to uniformly disperse the lipophilic material.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide improved hair styling sprays, foams, mousses, lotions, gels and creams comprising a water soluble, non-polymeric mineral salt, lipophilic materials and low levels of surfactant to uniformly disperse the lipophilic material which provide cleaner feeling hair without stiffness or stickiness under a variety of humidity conditions.
It is further the object of the present invention to provide an improved method for styling hair.
These and other objects will become readily apparent from the detailed description which follows.